Ag trial means new crops for the Cocos Islands

The second stage of an agricultural trial is underway on the Cocos Islands, 2750kms northwest of Perth.

A team from Murdoch University has just returned from sowing a variety of new crops on the Indian Ocean islands, following work to rehabilitate the soil using the legume lab lab.

Research Director of Crops and Plant Sciences, Professor John Howieson, says growing lab lab over 12 months has addressed some of the soil imbalances which make horticulture on the islands difficult.

"The Cocos has a coral sand and it's very poor in phosphate," he said.

"It's also slightly alkaline and that means some of the essential nutrients for plant growth are missing.

"But the lab lab has done unbelievably well, it's a very durable species and the organic matter produced by the plant has improved the fertility of the soil."

The lab lab has done unbelievably well, it's a very durable species and the organic matter produced by the plant has improved the fertility of the soil.

Professor John Howieson, Murdoch University

The lab lab has done so well that Professor Howieson is seeking funding to transport a mechanical harvester to the islands for the crop later this year.

He says the soil improvements have meant the team could progress from legumes to cereals, such as sorghum and millet.

"We've also put in some of the more speculative but high-value human feeds, like quinoa, chia, guar, soy beans and urad beans, or mung beans.

"We had good rain while we there and so everything is set up now for about three hectares of food crops to be produced over the next nine months."

The trial is taking place over two sites on the islands: paddocks at the old commonwealth quarantine station, where zoo animals and new stock breeds once waited in transit, and a site known as "the farm", which is owned by the local shire council.

Ultimately, Professor Howieson and his team hope to establish an aquaponics system on the islands to produce fresh fruit and vegetables.

"We want to take the grains, mill them, turn them into fish food, feed the fish in the tanks and then, from the effluent of the tanks, produce fresh fruits and vegetables on the island.

"So we spent a fair bit of time on this last trip scoping out what we need to do to get the aquaponics system up and running later this year on Cocos."

Locals welcome trial

Currently on the Islands most residents do their grocery shopping online and have produce delivered via a weekly flight.

Kerenda Keogh works for the Cocos Islands Tourism Association and says having locally grown produce would make a huge difference to residents' hip pockets.

$15 or $16 a kilo for tomatoes or $13 per lettuce is not unusual.

Kerenda Keogh, Cocos Islands local

"We pay about $6.50 per kilo in freight costs for fresh fruit and vegetables, then there's the customs fee and there's also a package and handling fee," she said.

"So if you're paying $6 a kilo for tomatoes on the mainland then it's another $6.50 per kilo, plus another couple of dollars postage and handling, so $15-$16 a kilo for tomatoes or $13 per lettuce is not unusual."

Ms Keogh says she and others have tried growing their own produce in the past but the soil presented difficulties in keeping the plants alive.

"It's a coral atoll so there's not a lot of goodness in the soil, so locals find it's a lot of time and a lot of effort just to do a small vegie garden on their own," she said.

"To get some nice fresh produce that was grown here would be fantastic.

"It would mean so much to the locals, to be able to offer the children fresh fruit and vegetables apart from just the apples, pears and oranges that we normally have in the supermarket."